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Koro language (Vanuatu)

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in Vanuatu}}

{{About|the Koro language of Vanuatu||Koro language (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Koro

|pronunciation={{IPA|krf|kʊrʊ|}}

|states=Vanuatu

|region=Gaua

|speakers=250

|date=2012

|ref=François (2012): 88).|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Oceanic

|fam4=Southern Oceanic

|fam5=North-Central Vanuatu

|fam6=North Vanuatu

|fam7=Torres-Banks

|iso3=krf

|glotto=koro1318

|glottorefname=Koro (Vanuatu)

|map = Lang Status 60-DE.svg

|mapcaption = {{center|{{small|Koro is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

}}

Koro is an Oceanic language spoken on Gaua island in Vanuatu. Its 280 speakers live in the village of Koro, on the south coast of Gaua.{{Harvcoltxt|François|2005|p=444}}.

Koro is a distinct language from its immediate neighbours, Dorig (300 sp.) and Olrat (4 sp.).[http://alex.francois.online.fr/AF-field.htm List of Banks islands languages].

Name

The name Koro, spelled natively as {{lang|krf|Kōrō}} {{IPA|krf|kʊrʊ|}}, is an endonym referring to the village.

Phonology

Koro has 8 phonemic vowels. These include 7 monophthongs {{IPA|/i ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ u/}} and one diphthong {{IPA|/ɛ͡a/}}.{{Harvcoltxt|François|2005|p=445}}.

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!   !! Front !! Back

Near-close

| {{IPA link|i}} {{angbr|i}} || {{IPA link|u}} {{angbr|u}}

Close-mid

| {{IPA link|ɪ}} {{angbr|ē}} || {{IPA link|ʊ}} {{angbr|ō}}

Open-mid

| {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{angbr|e}} || {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{angbr|o}}

Open

| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}} {{angbr|a}}

The diphthong {{IPA|[ɛ͡a]}} is spelled as {{angbr|ä}}.

Grammar

The system of personal pronouns in Koro contrasts clusivity, and distinguishes four numbers (singular, dual, trial, plural).François (2016).

Spatial reference in Koro is based on a system of geocentric (absolute) directionals, which is typical of Oceanic languages.François (2015).

Notes and references

=References=

{{reflist|2|}}

=Bibliography=

  • {{citation

|doi=10.1353/ol.2005.0034

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|author-link = Alexandre François (linguist)

|year=2005

|title=Unraveling the history of the vowels of seventeen northern Vanuatu languages

|journal=Oceanic Linguistics

|volume=44

|issue=2

|pages=443–504

|s2cid=131668754

|url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_VowelsNorthernVanuatu_OL44-2.pdf

}}

  • {{citation

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|year=2011

|title=Social ecology and language history in the northern Vanuatu linkage: A tale of divergence and convergence

|journal=Journal of Historical Linguistics

|volume=1

|issue=2

|pages=175–246

|doi=10.1075/jhl.1.2.03fra

|url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2011_JHL1-2_Social-ecology_Vanuatu.pdf

|ref=ecology

|hdl=1885/29283

|hdl-access=free

}}.

  • {{citation

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|year=2012

|title=The dynamics of linguistic diversity: Egalitarian multilingualism and power imbalance among northern Vanuatu languages

|journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language

|volume=2012

|issue=214

|doi=10.1515/ijsl-2012-0022

|pages=85–110

|s2cid=145208588

|url=https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2012_NorthVanuatuSocioling_IJSL.pdf

|ref=AF-diversity

}}

  • {{Cite book

| publisher = Asia-Pacific Linguistics

| isbn = 978-1-922185-23-5

| pages = 137–195

|editor=Alexandre François |editor2=Sébastien Lacrampe |editor3=Michael Franjieh |editor4=Stefan Schnell

| last = François

| first = Alexandre

| title = The languages of Vanuatu: Unity and diversity

| chapter = The ins and outs of up and down: Disentangling the nine geocentric space systems of Torres and Banks languages

| location = Canberra

| series = Studies in the Languages of Island Melanesia

| url = http://hdl.handle.net/1885/14819

| contribution-url= https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2015_North-Vanuatu-space-directionals.pdf

| date = 2015

| hdl = 1885/14819

| ref = updown }}

  • {{citation

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|year=2016

|contribution = The historical morphology of personal pronouns in northern Vanuatu

|editor1-last = Pozdniakov

|editor1-first = Konstantin

|title = Comparatisme et reconstruction : tendances actuelles

|volume = 47

|pages = 25–60

|publisher = Peter Lang

|place = Bern

|series = Faits de Langues

|contribution-url= https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2016_History-personal-pronouns_north-Vanuatu_s.pdf

|ref=pronouns

}}

  • {{cite web

|url=https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Koro?lang=en&mode=pro

|title=In Love with an Eel Man

|last=François

|first=Alexandre

|author-link=

|date=2021

|website=Pangloss Collection

|location=Paris

|publisher=CNRS

|access-date=22 Feb 2022

|quote=

|ref=pangloss}}

=External links=

  • [http://alex.francois.online.fr/AlexFrancois_Torba-languages_map.htm Linguistic map of north Vanuatu, showing range of Koro on Gaua].
  • [https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/Koro?lang=en&mode=pro Audio recordings in the Koro language], in open access, by A. François (Pangloss Collection).

{{Languages of Vanuatu}}

{{Southern Oceanic languages}}

{{Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

Category:Languages of Vanuatu

Category:Banks–Torres languages

Category:Torba Province

Category:Definitely endangered languages

{{Vanuatu-stub}}

{{SOceanic-lang-stub}}